Answers for August 17, 2026

Complete verified solutions for the August 17, 2026 NYT Spelling Bee puzzle. All 38 words, pangrams, and point totals included below.

Last updated: August 17, 2026 at 3:00 AM EST

B

Quick Answer Summary

The puzzle on 2026-08-17 had 38 words worth 115 points total. Pangram(s) included prodigy. You needed 81 points (70%) to reach Genius rank.

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πŸ“Š Today's Puzzle Insights

How today's puzzle compares to all-time Spelling Bee history

πŸ“ˆ View All-Time Stats Hub
Difficulty Score
177 Easy
4th percentile
Total Words
38
37th percentile
Total Points
115
12th percentile
Avg Word Length
4.58
All-time avg: 5.3
🎯
81
Genius Threshold
70% of max points
πŸ‘‘
115
Queen Bee Score
100% β€” all words
πŸ…±οΈ
No
Bingo Status
Not all letters start
πŸ“ˆ
24
GN4L Value
Words after Genius
2️⃣
14
Unique 2L Starts
Two-letter openings
⏱️
41m
Est. Solve Time
To reach Genius

πŸ“Š Words by Length

22 words
4L 22
11 words
5L 11
4 words
6L 4
1 word (Pangram)
7L 1⭐

πŸ…±οΈ Words Starting with Each Letter

D
11
G
10
P
10
O🐝
3
R
3
Y
1
I
0
Metric Today Average Record High Record Low
Total Words 38 ~44 77 16
Total Points 115 ~204.67 406 60
Avg Word Length 4.58 ~5.43 6.689655172413793 4.578947368421052
Pangram Count 1 ~1.49 4 1

πŸ“… Previous Puzzles with This Pangram

This is the first time this pangram has appeared in our archives.

🧩 Pangram Pattern Analysis

Today's featured pangram is PRODIGY. It consists of 7 letters with a vowel-to-consonant ratio of 29% (2 vowels and 5 consonants).

  • ⚑ Structure: Perfect pangram (uses each letter exactly once)
  • ⚑ Prefix: Starts with the common prefix pro-
Understanding spelling bee pangram patterns helps players identify long, high-scoring words early in their daily solving run.

πŸ“š Etymology & Word Origins

Greek PRODIGY

The word displays linguistic traits typical of Greek vocabulary, evolving through classical Hellenic phonetic clusters and structural roots.

Linguistic history study helps in spotting letter clusters in the spelling bee glossary based on classical word origins.

🚫 Rejected Word List

These valid English words can be formed with today's letters but were not accepted by the NYT editor:

dido digor diiodid diiodo dipodid dipody dirigo dodd doddy dogy doppio dori dorippid dorp dorr
NYT Spelling Bee rules exclude proper nouns, hyphenated terms, offensive words, and highly obscure vocabulary at the editor's discretion.

Pangram

prodigy (14 pts)
Click to Reveal Pangram

4-Letter Words22 words

dodo
door
dopy
dory
drop
good
goop
gorp
gory
grog
gyro
odor
Click to Reveal 22 4-Letter Words

5-Letter Words11 words

dodgy
doggo
doggy
droid
droop
goody
goopy
grody
poppy
prior
rigor
Click to Reveal 11 5-Letter Words

6-Letter Words4 words

droopy
groggy
opioid
priory
Click to Reveal 4 6-Letter Words

7-Letter Words1 words

prodigy
Click to Reveal 1 7-Letter Words

About Today's Spelling Bee Puzzle

Today's NYT Spelling Bee features O as the center letter, with 38 words worth 115 points total. The pangram is "prodigy" β€” a 7-letter word that uses all seven hive letters.

You need 81 points to reach Genius rank. Want to solve it yourself first? Our hints page gives you two-letter lists without revealing the full answers.

New to Spelling Bee? Check out our complete rules guide or beginner's guide to learn the basics.

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